Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Chelsea saw the tie levelled on aggregate when Sergio Busquets tapped home Isaac Cuenca's cross and their task became even greater when John Terry was sent off for kneeing Alexis Sanchez in the back.

But Ramires grabbed a goal right on half time to put Chelsea in the ascendancy once more, and a gargantuan rearguard effort from Chelsea saw them hold on for the second half with ten men until Fernando Torres broke away to score in injury time and seal the defending champions' exit.

"Football is unjust sometimes," Fabregas said.
"If there's one way you want to lose, it's like this, being true to our style.

"I'm 24 years old, and I've never seen the Camp Nou react like this after a defeat. This is a great team, we'll be back next year.

"Now we have to think about the four last Liga games and then the cup final. This team, this club, has always risen again."

Barcelona's president Sandro Rosell said it was important to take the defeat in the right manner.

"We have fought for 90 minutes, we stayed true to our game," he said. "I am proud of the team and the fans. Now we must prepare for cup final.

"We've shown that we can win, and now it's the time to show that we can lose too. It has been a hard blow, but you can only congratulate Chelsea. You should be able to accept defeat."